My first guitar lesson in my life was on June 30th this year, so 36 days ago.
My question is regarding the two alternatives: ( I apologize if this has been adressed before, but I took some different approaches from Justin’s course and following his guitar course very closely at the same time.)
Consolidate before moving to grade 2
Move to grade 2 and keep consolidating
I feel Justin is an amazing teacher and I wish to thank him to providing all this knowledge.
I can play all chords cleanly most of the time, separetly.
My fingers stopped hurting
I can do relatively to very clean chord changes while practicing. (my chord transitions do collapse from time to time - some days my chords just don’t flow, some days I’m amazed how well I can transition)
I HAVEN’T really learned any songs yet. I have been playing along some songs with the chords i know. When i try to follow songs, i tend to collapse at one moment or another.
For some reason the D major chord seems the only one offering a certain amount of resistance: my fingers just refuse to consistently fall on the right strings at the same time)
I have no issues with strumming patterens:) have played percussion for over 20 years.
I have learned PIMA fingerstyle for all grade 1 chords - with alternating bass for the chords that allow it. THIS IS THE PART I HAVE ENJOYED THE MOST.
I enjoy fingerstyle much more that strumming. (I’ve played frame drums for 12 years now and fingersnaps feel a lot like fingerstyle guitar to me.)
i really enjoy practicing PIMA fingerstyle
Em – C – Am
Am – Dm – E – Am
C – D – E – Am
Dm – C – Am – E
Am – E – C – D
Em – D – C – Am
ETC…
Now, finally my question: SHOULD I move on to GRADE 2? I’ve seen 6 months recomendation and I suppose these recomendations are made for a reason.
I practice 1 to 2 hours a day now that my fingers don’t hurt anymore.
Oh, and I don’t enjoy playing with a pick (yet).
I would really appreciate some views from seasoned players and also some simmilar / different views from people who are more or less on my level of the journey.
Thank you for your patience reading this! (and of course your possible future replies)
Alek
I suggest that you have a least 3-5 songs to the point that you can consistently play from start to finish with relatively few errors. Ideally, from memory - although I struggled with that at the end of Grade 1.
Also, I found that most of the recommended Grade 1 songs weren’t really what I enjoyed or wanted to add to my repertoire, but learned them anyway as part of the learning process.
You can always “upgrade” them later as you improve with more advanced techniques.
Hope this helps.
Must have been June 30th, July 30th was 7 days ago.
There is a reason Justin recommends learning 10 songs before moving on. Being a drummer you know the importance of rhythm. If you want to become really good at fingerstyle you will need to have very good rhythm and timing. Most fingerstyle is play alone.
Learning songs is the best and fastest way to get good at both Rhythm and Timing.
There’s nothing stopping you from learning 10 songs finger style.
One year student here (and a slow learner). First, congrats on the rapid progress. You must have worked pretty hard to get so far so fast.
I’d suggest staying and solidifying more. Justin talks about “Practice Makes Permanent”, and you don’t want to be practicing incorrectly.
Make sure to incorporate songs that force you to work on the stuff you’re having difficulty with.
Record and listen to yourself (just prop up your phone, or go whole hog and record in a DAW). While you’re playing, your brain is so active it cannot be too attentive, listening while not performing is a whole new experience. Be forewarned though, it can be shockingly different from how you heard yourself while performing.
Nothing wrong with having a sneak peak at Grade 2. Still… I would suggest to concentrate mainly on consolidating Grade 1 for now, and to invest time in learning to play 5 songs with the chords you know now. You have such a good starting point with your percussion foundation. Just give yourself a chance and you will see, after some time learning and playing songs will be much more fun than it is right now.
West African guitar sounds interesting btw. … Are you a fan of Mali blues then ( I know way too little about West African music) ?
I’m with you. I lived in Zaire(DRC) (not quite western Africa) for a while, and they were decidedly non-western rhythms and I loved/love that music: Tabu Ley, OK Jazz, Franco, Mbila Belle, were the rage then. I’ve since fallen in love with Orchestre Baobab and the sound of the kora. Great dancing music!
If I was to learn 10 songs before having ‘moved on’, I’d still be on Grade 1 (and maybe I should be! )
Rhythm is not going to be your problem if you’ve been playing percussion for 20 years, so I wouldn’t worry about that.
The most important thing to remember is that Justin has put a lot of thought into his lesson structure, so if you haven’t understood or got to grips with something, you should probably revisit. He also encourages self-learning and exploration, so fire ahead and see what’s in store for you. You’ll learn the quickest if you are having fun
I know two drummers who are exceptionally fast guitar learners, you seem to fit into this category as well. I think the main advantage is that you can hear and understand properly what you need to play, you only need to concentrate on how to play part. As others mentioned, you should learn some songs, but also, you can watch ahead. Nothing wrong with that.
I only learned 2 songs the whole time doing unit 1 and before unit 2. One was a simple Nirvana song with 2 chords and the other a simple Bob marley song. I knew the rythems and the words already. I waited until the end of unit 2 to do a heavy consolidation and learn songs. But then I spent a fair amount of time learning a good amount of songs with all the chords I spent so much time working on and doing my quick changes with as well as solidifying my foundation stuff. Then I barreled right into 3 with about 15 simple songs under my belt. Everyone has their own path, prior musical instrument knowledge certainly helps a lot.
check out Matteo Mancuso, brilliant jazz guitarist , plays without a pick. Todays greatest guitarist. Quickest way to improve . Strengthen all four fingers 1 finger per fret . spider walk. Same on right hand, ! play A string with fist finger then G with 3rd finger . i a . Then just 2nd finger play A string and 3rd finger play D . M A. Same pattern D G , G,B B,E across the strings. Then play as many songs and Solos as you Can.
I have edited your post and kept these three comments together.
1st - chords don’t function on their own so playing them cleanly when played separately is great but not a good enough standard to consider moving on.
2nd - chord transitions are the thing you will be doing your whole life as a musician / guitarist. These need to be secure, clean, in time and confident.
3rd - keep on trying to follow and play along with songs … BUT … slow the songs down with software so that you can maintain clean and accurate chord changes without collapsing. You already have enough chord shapes learned to be able to find and play along with many songs.
… D major chord … my fingers just refuse to consistently fall on the right strings at the same time
Try this exercise …
Hold your fingers near to but not touching the strings.
Touch the fingers where the chord is but do not press.
Once you have all three touching at the correct place then press them down.
Do not strum - this is a fretting hand exercise only.
Release the pressure after a few seconds but keep touching the strings.
Then move your hand away from the strings by a small amount. All fingers away.
Repeat the process.
Then, to improve changes to and from the chosen chord and other commonly grouped chords, repeat the above process with one alteration. After the final step of lifting all fingers away, the next cycle would be to move fingers over the chord that you are changing to. Once that chord has been done and fingers are lifted away, go back to the first chord of the pair.
Wash, rinse, repeat. Make this exercise last about five minutes.
Example - D chord plus some associated chords
1 minute - D alone
1 minute - D and A
1 minute - D and C
1 minute - D and E
1 minute - D alone
I have learned PIMA fingerstyle for all grade 1 chords - with alternating bass for the chords that allow it. THIS IS THE PART I HAVE ENJOYED THE MOST.
Fingerstyle is FUN.
I’m curious - what do you mean by ‘alternating bass’? The bass played on beat 1 then strumming? The bass played on beats 1 and 3? Or on all four beats?
(and maybe I should be! 
)
